How a 30,000+ woman-focused entrepreneur community is re-writing the rules and defying all odds.
Originally published on Forbes
Gesche Haas doesn’t resemble what many might consider a typical startup founder. She is building and growing her company while she has an 11-month old daughter, and another baby on the way. She left New York several years ago to move to Jackson, Wyoming, and runs her team of eight, scattered across different states and countries, fully remote. Of that team, she’s the only one who’s full time: Instead of bringing on employees, she’s optimized for agility by engaging experienced contractors.
From the moment she launched her company, Dreamers & Doers, a private collective that amplifies the entrepreneurial pursuits of extraordinary women, she’s bootstrapped every dime. But that hasn’t prevented her from scaling—not by a long shot. What started as a side hustle over six years ago to meet Haas' personal need to connect with other founders, has grown into a vibrant ecosystem of over 30,000 women globally. This network supports and co-exists with the highly curated Dreamers & Doers private collective and its over 600 members at the center of it.
Haas would love to say she had all of this figured out from the beginning, but admits that she’s learned many lessons the hard way. “We initially interviewed with major accelerators, we were building out our own technology, and for years I dedicated every single waking second to building my company. I was constantly focused on what I thought I should be doing instead of digging deep into what the right path was for me personally,” she says.
Several years ago, she confesses, she hit rock bottom emotionally and physically—which ended up being a major turning point for the business. “From there things went upwards. I had much more clarity not only on where I wanted to head, but how I wanted to get there.”
If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to build a company that feels true to you, and that can coexist with your personal life while still being incredibly successful, read on for Haas' inspiring playbook.
Stay Lean
Haas considers herself among the “lucky” founders who have proactively been approached by investors over the years. “It was very tempting to explore these conversations further. But I was much more focused on a sustainable approach. I wanted my company to be around for the long-run.”
“There were many times that my approach felt very unsexy,” Haas concedes. “Especially when I was still living in New York City, it was difficult to escape the comparison game. Other founders were stacking you up based on how much you’ve raised, how many employees you have, and how fancy your office is. I’d frequently feel inadequate. I’d also feel guilty for not being able to provide ‘more’ to our members because of this somewhat slower, more steady, approach we’d picked.”
Then came COVID-19.
“I’ve never been this grateful for us being as lean as we operationally are,” Haas explains. While she says she’s not against taking VC funding as a rule, she frequently sees it being pursued for the wrong reasons. “The entrepreneurial journey is often filled with the most unexpected and devastating blows. Being intentional about how you structure and operate your company is easily the difference between its life or death, not to mention if it continues to grow into something you can see yourself running long-term.”
Haas further acknowledges: “Though general access to sources of funding is crucial, especially for underrepresented founders. Me being able to bootstrap and burn through savings for nearly two years, is a privilege that I was only able to afford because I had prior worked in finance for half a decade.”
Focus on Impact, Not Marketing
Most startups invest in marketing and user acquisition early—and heavily. But when I first joined Dreamers & Doers as a member a few years ago, I was taken aback by its non-traditional approach. “The short version of this is that Dreamers & Doers doesn’t market,” explains Haas. “Instead, the team invests heavily in the hope of providing an impactful, high-touch and personalized experience for its members. This in turn leads to members proactively referring potential members after experiencing the impact the collective can have.“
While part of this impact comes from the internal Dreamers & Doers team, the other, even more crucial part comes from the community’s emphasis on curation and dedication to “turning mutual support into a competitive edge,” which encourages members to regularly offer each other advice, resources, and opportunities.
One member puts it this way: “I've learned that what I give out to the community—such as advice, resources or consulting opportunities for members—comes back to me a hundred times more.”
That approach is another reason Dreamers & Doers is weathering COVID particularly well. Haas admits that the company has seen an increase in churn given the current climate, but it’s been lower than for other products and services geared towards entrepreneurial women. “We’ve heard over and over again from our members that true value creation and community is needed more than ever,” she shares.
It’s OK to Wait
While in the current climate, many companies have had to cut back on their offerings, programming, or employees to save precious dollars, Dreamers & Doers has been charging ahead—made possible by the fact that the company waited to make big investments until it was in a financial position to do so.
Dreamers & Doers recently launched a rebrand, its first considerable investment into branding since the company launched more than six years ago.
Haas acknowledges: “At times, it was painful to work so hard behind-the-scenes, and to outwardly not fully exude what we were capable of offering. But in hindsight, I think it was absolutely the right move. Those who knew what we could deliver, knew. And investing in branding so late in our journey, I firmly believe, is the reason we are in a position to operate today.”
To me, it’s about much more than rebranding a company. Haas is rebranding what success looks like. What a successful company looks like. And what the path to getting there entails.
That path, she says, is something many entrepreneurs, especially those playing by traditional startup rules, tend to forget about. “You must make sure that the journey is worth it to you,” she adds.“
“It’s not about constantly having smooth sailing. Running any type of company is hard, and communities are a special, albeit beautiful, beast of their own. It’s about finding a why that drives you enough to embrace the particular challenges your path will bring. This at the end of the day is what defines success, not how much you’ve raised, or how fancy your office is.”
Haas' final words of wisdom are a nod to the experience that was most transformative for her: “You need breaks. You need to pause, reflect, and recharge batteries in a way that allows you to dive back in and fight for the things you’ve identified worth fighting for. I of course want Dreamers & Doers to be a long-term success, and am fighting hard for this. But the truth is that I have laid out my path in such a way that I’m not tied to a particular outcome. Wherever we end at the end of the day will have been a success for me, because I made the road leading up to it worthwhile.”
